Sheet Material Production

In the Industry 4.0 era, the concept of "sheet materials" is no longer limited to traditional steel sheets. The explosion of materials science has introduced new product lines into factories with much stricter standards: from quartz-based artificial stone and large-format industrial wood (MDF, HDF) to green construction materials like Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) or high-tech plastics. This shift poses a difficult problem for internal logistics (intralogistics): How to move sheet materials that are heavy and bulky, yet require absolute "pampering" regarding surface integrity?

In reality, at many factories today, the lifting and handling process remains a bottleneck that stifles overall productivity. Traditional methods are clearly revealing three fatal weaknesses:

1. Occupational Safety Risks: Using manual labour or rudimentary equipment to manoeuvre material sheets weighing hundreds of kilograms is a direct cause of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) and accident risks due to uncontrolled inertial forces.
2. Surface Damage: For industries requiring high aesthetics, such as automotive body manufacturing (cold-rolled steel) or high-end furniture (stone, glass), a single small scratch caused by chains or mechanical clamps is enough to turn an expensive finished product into scrap.
3. Material Deformation: Large-format but thin sheets are very prone to warping, buckling, or cracking if the lifting force is not distributed evenly across the entire surface area.

Facing this challenge, the combination of a Pneumatic Industrial Manipulator and a Vacuum Gripper is attracting attention from many factories. More than just lifting equipment, this is a "Zero Gravity" strategy that helps businesses liberate labour power, ensure absolute safety, and elevate product quality right from the transportation stage.

This article will deeply analyse the operating mechanism, key technical specifications, and practical efficiency of the manipulator solution integrated with vacuum grippers, based on the latest research on material technology and modern lifting equipment standards.

Technical Solution - Industrial Manipulator

To solve the problem of lifting large-format sheet materials that traditional hoists or electric chain blocks cannot meet in terms of flexibility and precision, the Industrial Manipulator is the optimal answer. Unlike the "soft suspension" mechanism of a hoist, the manipulator uses a rigid arm structure combined with a pneumatic control system, turning the device into a natural extension of the operator's arm.

Core Technology: Zero Gravity and Auto Balancer

The biggest difference of the Vietmani manipulator lies in the pneumatic controller that creates a Zero Gravity state.

• Pneumatic Balancing Principle: The system uses pneumatic cylinders to create a counterweight lifting force exactly equal to the object's weight. When balanced, a load of 100kg or 1000kg can be moved up and down with a minimal force from the human hand (usually < 5N).
• Auto Balancer: The device is equipped with a feature to automatically detect the load. The intelligent pressure regulating valve system automatically switches between "loaded" and "unloaded" modes instantly.
• Operational Significance: Workers do not need to continuously press "Up/Down" buttons like when using an electric hoist. Instead, they directly hold the material (or the control handle) and move it at will. This eliminates the latency of electric motors, making the alignment of steel sheets into stamping dies or placing glass sheets into frames smooth and absolutely precise.

"Digitised" Strength: Analysis of the HA Series

The HA Series industrial manipulator is specifically designed for heavy-duty lifting tasks with impressive specifications, directly addressing the limitations of sheet materials:

Payload Range:

• The HA Series offers lifting capacities from 80kg to 1200kg.
• Application: This load range completely covers the needs of sheet industries: from thin Stainless Steel sheets (tens of kg) to thick Quartz artificial stone blocks or high-density fiberboard (HDF) bundles weighing tons.

Working Envelope:

• Working Radius (R-max): Reaches up to 4000 mm.
• This means a device installed at a central column can cover a working area with a diameter of up to 8 meters. It allows for serving multiple positions simultaneously: from raw material pallets and CNC cutting tables to finished product stacking areas without the need for support forklifts.
• Vertical Stroke: 1800 mm. Ensures the ability to stack materials high or lower them into deep machine pits.

Mechanical Structure and Installation: The system uses Rotary Unions at connection points, allowing the arm to rotate 360 degrees continuously around the column axis and the arm axis.

• Mounting Types:

  • Fixed Column: Suitable for fixed workstations, withstanding large torque when reaching maximum extension.

  • Overhead (Ceiling/Rail Mounted): Completely frees up floor space, suitable for moving assembly lines.

Why Choose Pneumatic Over Electric?

In heavy industrial environments and sheet material handling, pneumatic manipulators (like Vietmani HA/Bena Series) outperform electric manipulators in 3 points:

1. Explosion Safety: No electric sparks are generated, making it absolutely safe in dusty environments (wood factories, stone powder) or areas with flammable solvents.
2. Durability: Pneumatic systems have fewer minor breakdowns, withstand harsh environments, and have lower maintenance costs compared to complex electronic servo motors.
3. Force Feedback: Compressed air has natural elasticity, helping to absorb vibrations or slight collisions during assembly, avoiding cracking brittle materials like sintered stone or tempered glass.

Customising Grippers Based on Actual Materials

If the manipulator acts as the "muscle" providing lifting power, the gripper (end-effector) is the "dexterous hands" directly contacting the product. For sheet materials, especially those with large surface areas and high aesthetic requirements, the Vacuum Gripper is not just an option, but a mandatory technical standard to ensure material integrity.

"Mark-Free" Mechanism: Solving the Sensitive Surface Problem

In traditional lifting methods (chains, mechanical clamps), the lifting force is often concentrated at edge points or hook points, creating extreme local stress. This causes two serious problems:

1. Mechanical Marks: Causing scratches on cold-rolled steel, mirror-finish stainless steel, or chipping at the edges of Quartz/glass sheets.
2. Warping/Deformation: With large but thin metal sheets (e.g., 2m x 6m), lifting only at the edges causes the centre of the sheet to sag due to gravity, causing plastic deformation or difficulty when feeding into processing machines.

Solution from Vacuum Grippers: The system uses a matrix of suction pads scientifically arranged on the beam frame.

• Even Force Distribution: The load is spread across the entire surface of the sheet instead of being concentrated at a single point. This helps eliminate sagging, keeping the material sheet absolutely flat during movement.
• Soft Contact: Suction pads are made from specialised elastic materials (such as NBR rubber, Silicone, or Polyurethane), ensuring "Mark-free handling".

Technical Structure of a Standard Gripper

A vacuum gripper integrated on a Vietmani manipulator usually includes 3 main modules, customised based on material characteristics:

a. Vacuum Generator:

• Venturi Technology: Uses the factory's compressed air source to create a vacuum. Advantages are extremely fast response, compact size, and no heat generation. This is the optimal choice for airtight materials like steel, glass, and artificial stone.
• Electric Vacuum Pump: Dedicated to materials with porosity or imperfectly flat surfaces, like MDF wood and AAC concrete. Electric pumps create a large suction flow to compensate for air leakage through the material surface.

b. Adjustable Frame System: To handle diverse sheet sizes (from 1.2m to 6m), the frame system is usually designed in a modular form with horizontal/vertical beams that can slide and lock positions. Operators can easily change the distance between suction pads to suit the centre of gravity of each batch.

c. Rotary and Tilt Unit: The gripper designed by Vietmani is capable of performing complex operations in 3D space:

• 360-degree Rotation: Rotate the material sheet horizontally to orient the input for CNC cutting machines.
• 90-degree Tilting: Switch the sheet state from horizontal (on the pallet) to vertical (to install on A-frames or painting lines). The tilting mechanism is usually assisted by pneumatic cylinders, making the tilting of a 500kg sheet gentle.

Safety Factor in Gripper Design

According to international lifting safety standards (such as EN 13155), vacuum grippers must be designed with a minimum safety factor of 2.0 (meaning the actual holding force must be double the working load).

• Calculation Example: To lift a steel sheet weighing 500kg, the total suction force of the pads must reach at least 1000kg. This ensures that even if the material surface has oil or dirt, reducing suction efficiency, the lifted object is still held absolutely tight.
• The Vietmani manipulator system has a built-in vacuum pressure gauge and alarm siren. If the vacuum level does not reach the safe threshold (usually -0.6 bar), the system will lock the lifting function, preventing the operator from performing the next operation.

Operational Safety and Economic Efficiency (ROI)

In heavy industrial environments, safety is not just compliance with regulations but a vital element to maintain the continuity of the production line. At the same time, every technology investment must be proven by specific figures on economic efficiency. The Vietmani industrial manipulator solution fully meets both of these requirements.

Multi-Layer Safety System

Unlike simple lifting devices, industrial manipulators are equipped with active and passive safety mechanisms to eliminate risks caused by humans or power source failures.

a. Loss of Pressure Protection: One of the biggest concerns when using pneumatic equipment is "What happens if the air source is suddenly cut off?"

• Solution: The system has a built-in air reservoir and check valve. In the event of a compressed air loss from the factory, the reserve air in the tank is sufficient to hold the object tight for a long time, allowing the operator to lower the load to the floor safely. The lifted object never falls freely.

b. Safety Interlock:

• The pneumatic logic control system is designed with a "Grip & Release Interlock" feature.
• Operating Mechanism: The operator cannot activate the release command when the object is suspended in the air. The release function is only unlocked when the sensor confirms the object has been placed stably on the floor or machine table (when the load on the manipulator decreases to 0). This eliminates risks due to accidental button pressing by workers.

c. Brake System:

• The rotary joints of the manipulator are all equipped with brake systems. This helps fix the manipulator's position when not in use, preventing the arm from drifting due to inertia or drafts, which is especially important in factories with tight spaces.

Economic Efficiency Analysis (ROI)

Transitioning from manual methods or cranes to industrial manipulators brings a clear Return on Investment (ROI) in 3 aspects:

1. Increased Operational Productivity:

• Speed: Manipulation with the manipulator is 30-50% faster than electric cranes (due to eliminating motor startup latency and waiting time for cable swing stabilisation).
• Manpower: One worker using a manipulator can perform the workload of 2-3 manual labourers. Example: Flipping a 200kg steel sheet previously required 2 people struggling together; now it only needs 1 person operating gently.

2. Minimised Product Damage:

• In the glass, stone cladding, or non-ferrous metal industries, the scrap rate due to cracking or scratching during transport is a huge hidden cost.
• Vacuum gripper technology eliminates hard mechanical contacts, helping to reduce the surface defect rate to near 0%. Saving just one finished Quartz slab (worth millions of dong) from cracking each month means the device has paid for itself.

3. Saving Medical and Welfare Costs:

• Minimises occupational diseases regarding the spine and herniated discs (MSDs) for workers. This helps businesses stabilise personnel, reduce recruitment and retraining costs, and build a professional, international-standard working environment (such as ISO 45001).

Conclusion

The shift to large-format sheet materials and strict requirements for surface quality is reshaping the manufacturing industry. In that context, traditional lifting methods have reached their limits.

The Industrial Manipulator integrated with the Vacuum Gripper solution is not merely a support device, but the key to optimising Intralogistics. With the ability to lift loads to 1200kg (HA Series), a 4m working radius, and "Zero Gravity" technology, this is a strategic investment helping businesses:

1. Ensure absolute safety for people and assets.
2. Protect the perfection of the product reaching the customer.
3. Increase order processing speed and enhance competitiveness.

It is time for your business to say goodbye to the risks of manual methods and embrace the gentleness and precision of modern lifting technology.

Do you need consultation on a specialised lifting solution for your factory? Contact our technical team for a survey and the most optimal design.

Consulting Hotline: 0931 782 489